Arrests for low-level offences such as vagrancy and drug possession rose in the US between 2024 and 2025, even as violent crime, including homicide, fell to historic lows, according to an analysis of federal data by the advocacy group FWD.us, NPR reports.
The report found vagrancy arrests rose by 44%, with California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona accounting for more than half of the increase. Marijuana possession arrests went up 6%, mainly in Southern states where the drug remains illegal, and Black people accounted for most of that rise. Arrests for possession of other drugs rose by 3%.
The group's executive director, Zoë Towns, said the trend marked a return to tough-on-crime policies of the 1980s and 1990s. The analysis does not show whether charges were later dropped. The FBI did not immediately comment.
Source: NPR News
